SnSt Ht 7^III

Hjálms fylli spekr hilmir
hvatr Vindhlés skatna;
hann kná hjǫrvi þunnum
hræs þjóðár ræsa.
Ýgr hilmir lætr eiga
ǫld dreyrfá skjǫldu;
styrs rýðr stillir hersum
sterkr járngrá serki.

Hvatr hilmir spekr skatna {fylli hjálms {Vindhlés}}; hann kná ræsa {þjóðár hræs} þunnum hjǫrvi. Ýgr hilmir lætr ǫld eiga dreyrfá skjǫldu; sterkr stillir rýðr {járngrá serki styrs} hersum.

The brave lord subdues men {with Vindhlér’s <= Heimdallr’s> {filling of the helmet}} [HEAD > SWORD]; he can make {mighty rivers of carrion} [BLOOD] rush with the slender sword. The terrifying lord makes people possess bloodstained shields; the strong ruler reddens {the iron-grey shirts of battle} [BYRNIES] of the hersar.

Mss: R(45v), Tˣ(47v), W(139), U(47r) (l. 1), U(49r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] fylli: fulli Tˣ;    hilmir: ‘hil[…]’ U(47r)    [2] Vindhlés: ‘vinles’ U;    skatna: skatnar U    [3] hann: so all others, hér R;    kná: kann Tˣ, U    [4] þjóðár: þjóðár vel U    [5] Ýgr: so all others, yggr R;    lætr: so U, ‘hetr’ R, Tˣ, ‘[…]etr’ W    [7] styrs: styrks U

Editions: Skj AII, 54, Skj BII, 62, Skald II, 36; SnE 1848-87 I, 608-9, II, 370, 376-7, III, 112-13, SnE 1879-81, I, 2, 75, II, 5, SnE 1931, 218, SnE 2007, 7; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 6.

Context: The stanza illustrates the poetic license of having syllables in the even lines that are pronounced so slowly that the lines may contain five rather than six syllables.

Notes: [All]: The headings read: vij. ‘seven’ (Tˣ), oddhent ‘front-rhymed’ (U(47r)). The heading in U refers to the fact that the first internal rhyme in all lines falls in metrical position 1. — [All]: Three of the words in this stanza containing syllables that are pronounced ‘slowly’ (samstǫfur seinar) are hiatus-words which earlier would have had an extra syllable: þjóðár < þjóðáar (fem. acc. pl.) ‘mighty rivers’ (l. 4); dreyrfá < dreyrfáa (m. acc. pl.) ‘blood-stained’ (l. 6); járngrá < járngráa (m. acc. pl.) ‘iron-grey’ (l. 8). This stanza and the surrounding prose commentary are very interesting, because they show that, by 1220, earlier hiatus-words had been contracted and were no longer disyllabic, although Snorri knew that they belonged to a special category. — [1, 2] fylli hjálms Vindhlés ‘with Vindhlér’s <= Heimdallr’s> filling of the helmet [HEAD > SWORD]’: Vindhlér is the fourth word that must be pronounced ‘slowly’ to achieve a hexasyllabic line. The etymology of the second element of that cpd, ‑hlér, is disputed, however, and it is doubtful whether this word actually was an earlier hiatus-word (AEW: Vindhlér; Kuhn 1983, 69-70). ‘Heimdallr’s head’ is a kenning for ‘sword’, because the god Heimdallr was once struck with a man’s head. This explanation, which is provided in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 19, 108; see also SnE 2005, 26), is unclear and could represent a late attempt to make sense of this particular type of kenning (see the discussion in Meissner 126-7 and Konráð Gíslason 1895-7), although we cannot exclude that it referred to a traditional, now lost myth.  — [3] hann ‘he’: So all other mss. In R, hér ‘here’ has been changed to hann (R*). For similar confusion in R between these words, see Notes to sts 56/7 and 68/8. — [3] kná ‘can’: Kann ‘can’ (Tˣ, U) is also a possible reading. — [5] lætr ‘makes’: So U. The word is damaged in W, and the R, Tˣ reading, ‘hetr’, cannot be construed as an Old Norse word. It has been altered in R to ‘hvetr’ (R*), which could be taken as the 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of hvetja ‘sharpen, egg on, urge on’ (cf. st. 15/8), but that makes no sense in the context.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
8. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 18 April 2024)